For many students, it sounds like a dream come true: No grades, no term papers and students only are required to take classes that interest them.

    Some Delawareans are hoping to establish such an academic center that would allow older adults in Kent County to take college-level classes without many of the pressures associated with formal schooling. 

    Larry Koch, who moved from Maine to Magnolia, said he attended such an institution in his home state and became interested in starting something like it in Kent County to provide adults with a way to keep their minds active and meet others with the same interests.

    He started by getting in touch with representatives from the University of Delaware. Jim Broomall, assistant provost for professional and continuing studies, said the institution already had been looking to provide classes to the population not served by the university’s Academy of Lifelong Learning centers in Lewes and Wilmington.

    At an Aug. 24 meeting, Broomall and Koch met with the coordinator for the Academy of Lifelong Learning, as well as representatives from Kent County Levy Court, Delaware State University, the Modern Maturity Center and local groups, such as the Central Delaware Civil War Roundtable, to discuss the feasibility of starting the program in fall 2010.

    The center would be funded through participants’ registration fees and grants from the Bernard Oscher Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization that provides support to lifelong learning programs for adults and to students reentering post-secondary study.

    Broomall said the Kent County academic center would be eligible for approximately $2 million in funding through the Oscher Foundation.

    “We have the model in place,” Broomall said, “and we would like to expand our footprint in Central Delaware.”

    Carolyn Fredricks, executive director of the Modern Maturity Center, would like for the academic center to be located at the Forrest Avenue senior center.

    “A lifelong learning center is already part of our strategic plan,” Fredricks said, noting the MMC is planning to build a second building behind its existing structure. The new building would house the adult daycare services, and the fitness center would move to the space currently occupied by the adult daycare. The Modern Maturity Center would look to partner with the University of Delaware to have a lifelong learning center in the space currently occupied by the fitness center, she said.

    Dr. Ruth Flexman, coordinator of the University of Delaware’s Academy of Lifelong Learning, said the Modern Maturity Center would be a good location, given the size of its parking lot, its handicapped accessibility and the number of daily events already occurring at the center.

    Currently, the Academy of Lifelong Learning in Lewes has approximately 400 members who are offered 60 courses for 10-week semesters, and the Wilmington center has more than 1,800 participants who have the choice of approximately 200 courses during a 14-week semester.

    “Our surprise this semester was having 124 people register for Intro to Buddhism,” Flexman said.

    She added the most popular time for classes was during the afternoon on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, though classes are held at other times.

    “But you have to start with your community,” Flexman said. “Your community will provide the speakers and the participants.”

    The group agreed to work on tailoring the strategic plan from the two University of Delaware’s centers for Kent County, forming a budget and creating a survey to receive feedback from locals on the types of classes that people would be interested in joining.

    “We also need to reach out to other groups, such as 55-plus communities and retiree groups,” Koch said.  

    Koch, Broomall and the other group members agreed to meet in the beginning of October to review the gathered information and evaluate the next steps for moving forward with the academic center.

Email Elaine Hughes at elaine.hughes@doverpost.com